Islanders-Devils to Be First NHL Game Played at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center

By Eben Novy-Williams -
Jan 31, 2012

The New York Islanders and the New
Jersey Devils will play in the first National Hockey League game
at the Barclays Center, the $1 billion arena due to open this
year in Brooklyn.

The Islanders will be the home team in the preseason game
on Oct. 2, according to a news release from the club. The
National Basketball Association’s New Jersey Nets are set to
move into the building, and become the Brooklyn Nets when the
arena opens this September.

Voters in New York’s Nassau County rejected a $400 million
bond plan to finance a new arena for the Islanders, who are
drawing an Eastern Conference-low 12,670 fans per game at Nassau
Veterans Memorial Coliseum this year. The team’s lease in the
Uniondale arena, about 25 miles east of Barclays Center, expires
in 2015.

Charles Wang, the Islanders’ owner, has said the team will
honor its lease.

“We’re not going to make any comments on any specific next
steps,” he said in August.

The Brooklyn arena, which will have 100 luxury suites, four
bars, three clubs and a restaurant, seats roughly 14,000 for
hockey. The Devils-Islanders contest will also be the first NHL
game held in Brooklyn, according to the release.

“We already have some of the most passionate fans in the
league supporting our young team, and we are looking forward to
expanding our base into Brooklyn,” Islanders General Manager
Garth Snow said in the release.

The Islanders (19-22-7) have 45 points this season and are
in last place in the five-team Atlantic division. They trail the
fourth-place Devils (26-19-3) by 10 points.

The Nets and the Devils both play their home games at the
Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.